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December 22, 2011

The Joy of Giving

Everyone has been mentioning Christmas traditions recently, and I wanted to share one of ours with you. It has nothing to do with setting up the Christmas tree, baking goodies, or caroling, and has everything to do with giving!

A few years ago, my husband and I discovered a small Christmas tree covered in paper ornaments near the front doors of our local Wal-Mart. On each paper ornament was the name, age, and gender of a child that is not fortunate enough to receive a gift at Christmas-time. We immediately fell in love with the idea and picked an 11-year-old girl to find gifts for, and last year we picked a 9-year-old boy. I have really enjoyed trying to find the perfect gifts for each of them.

I really look forward to picking a child's name off the tree, and told my husband at the beginning of December that we needed to look out for "The Tree", as I like to call it. We spotted it a few days later during one of our many visits to Wal-Mart, and we immediately made our way over to pick a child. I like to alternate back-and-forth between a boy and a girl, so this year we picked a little 7-year-old girl.

It proved difficult to shop for a young girl that no longer would want to play with preschool toys, but is too young to play with and understand the toys that older girls would enjoy. I like to get each child something useful -- something to help keep them warm during the winter months -- so I bought her a scarf. I also like to get the children something educational, and something fun. Here is what I picked out for our special girl:

A stuffed wiener-dog, a scarf, markers, special paper, a jewelry kit, a sparkly make-up bag/pencil case, and lip gloss.

I hope that she will be so very excited to open her gifts on Christmas morning! I imagine her ripping the wrapping paper off each gift, her eyes wide in excitement :)

Is there a favourite charity or organization that you like to give to during the holiday season?